Reviews with content warning for Islamophobia - Hex

It was…fine? I thought it would be scary but it fell flat on that front for me. I’m willing to give some benefit of the doubt because it is translated and translation can make or break a book but….this wasn’t it. I’ll never really understand why SA and animal abuse/cruelty is such a prominent part of the horror genre but it’s so pointless to me and does nothing but twist my stomach and make me want to stop reading. *ESPECIALLY* when those two things don’t impact the characters in any meaningful way. It’s just gratuitous cruelty that serves no purpose at that point. Overall it was an interesting plot line but the execution wasn’t there for me.

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davisota2018's review against another edition

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sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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bibliotecadepueblo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Pues parece que pertenezco a esa minoría a la que este libro no le ha entusiasmado en exceso. Y es que a pesar de lo interesante de la premisa, su ejecución no me ha convencido.

Quizás haya sido mezclar lo sobrenatural con un pueblo a lo Gran Hermano lo que no me ha terminado de meter en la historia, no lo sé, pero esperaba otra cosa totalmente diferente cuando lo empecé. Varios capítulos que se me han hecho bola, una obsesión insana por los pezones y el cero interés que tenía por todos los habitantes de Black Spring, han hecho de este libro una decepción.

Eso sí, aunque siento que se le podría haber sacado más partido al personaje de la bruja (me interesaba más la trama de su pasado que la actual), me encanta cómo el autor nos muestra que el peor mal de todos es, como siempre, el propio ser humano.

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tavvyj's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I read this in a book club and can tell I liked it quite a bit more than most of them did. This novel is emotional, and so much of it is tense. Heuvelt uses very specific language to stand out specific passages, and because of that it can warrant disgust at times.

I'm going to talk about the nipples here, which are a large part of the shock value. My friends said things like "don't make a drinking game out of it" and the like, so while I was reading I kept count of the mentions. While it's a higher number than one would expect in a non-smut or romance book, it mentions them 10 total times, 9 of which are for shock value and disgust. Talking about Tyler's nips was weird though.

In any case, the use seems pretty clear to make the imagery stand out and not just mentioning nipples just to mention nipples as my friends emphasized.

The book is dark and emotional, it's horrific. And it's a reminder that the true evil in the world is, and has always been, humans being afraid of something.

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kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Great concept, slow middle, ending was abrupt… and man this guy had a weird fetish with nipple torture/ abuse.

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lozziejhall's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mollymctouch's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

I didn’t know this book was going to be full on horror, but there ya go. It was so well-balanced. Seriously gave me the creeps.

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aromarrie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Only if we have suffered can we make choices out of love.

honestly….weird sexual references and violations of a witch’s body aside….what was originally a very strong 4-star was bumped up into a 4.5 when i got close to the ending. one that was very bleak and left me feeling kinda numb, to be honest 🥲

if there’s one thing i can compliment about this author’s work, among many others, it’s how he portrays the grief of family and losing a loved one. how fast it makes you spiral and also the town you could maybe call home. he’s a real charmer for that.

and now i need even more to get to speak with the author like please 😭 i need to hear about what goes through his head; it’s a new dream of mine, now more than ever.

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